computer wont post

[bob_derth]

im not new to building computers at all
ive been building them for years
but this has me baffled

my new puter wont post into bios

asus a7v8x mobo
XP 2200
512 ram
etc....

the odd thing is, that i dont get any beeb warnings on post, so i have no idea if something is wrong
(yes all the connectors are in, and yes ive switched them around multiple times to see if that was the prob.
all the fans start up, HD's spin up, flopy is correct, cd rom lights turn on etc...)

i am baffled right now what it could be

and i tried booting up directly from a boot disc, but that does nothing either

any help would be appreciated
thanks
bob

[OS-Wiz]

Given those symtoms it could be either a dead CPU or memory problem. Try reseating each and carefully check the CPU pins. You might try clearing CMOS after reseating/inspecting.

[Adm_Screed]

Also, I had this happen to me once but I got random beep codes everytime I turned it on. Make sure none of the pins on the bottom of the motherboard are touching the case, this ='s a short and wont post up correctly.

[bob_derth]

well i checked both the cpu and the ram and mobo, and reseated each
but still a no go

i took the HS back off the cpu to check for a crack or something, but didnt find anything

shouldnt i still be able to boot up into bios without ram?
or at least get a beep code to tell me that there is no ram?

im still not getting beep codes which is troubling

and i dont have anything to swap the ram or cpu with to test that..

any other thoughts?

peace
bob

[Dasenergi]

I had this issue before no post, no beeps everything looked fine, it was a dead cpu. It may be rma time if you have reseated everything....ram will almost always give you a beep code

[Lord Vetinari]

Before RMAing it I'd try setting it up at minimum outside the case just in case there a short circuit going on somewhere.

[alcan60283]

I'm not trying to make u sound stupid or anything, but did you check to make sure the Clear CMOS jumper isnt jumped? this would cause it to do what its doing. Like Vetinari said, take everything out, set the mobo on its static bag, plug everything in and see what happens. Thats really the only thing i can think of.

[quiktake]

Make sure the hard drives are set up correctly. Some computers won't post unless they are. If you are using one hard drive, make sure it is set on "single" or whatever the manufacturer recommends.

[drstrangelove]

Sometimes, simple logic can be the best advice (sometimes not, so don't think me arrogant). That said, if you have other parts, try swapping them out. I agree about checking outside the case (cpu/mobo/ram/video/power supply ONLY). Try replacing each of these with another known good component to see if it works. It's simple scientific process of only having one variable.

Also, what about jumpers ... is the FSB set correctly? Could you be overclocking by mistake?

[Lord Vetinari]

If you do try testing out of the case- DO NOT DO THIS ON THE ANTISTATIC BAG- depending on where the coating is it will probably be conductive- Just do it on the box.

[WISEGUY]

Bob, do you have any new information regarding this problem? I see you started this post back in March and I'm curious to know what you did to resolve this issue.

I just replaced my MB,CPU & RAM. I bought an ASUS A7V8X, an Athlon 2600+ and 512 MB of Kingston CAS 2 RAM. My machine was working perfectly before I upgraded. I was running a 1700+ on a Soyo MB (Via KT133 chipset) with 384 MB of RAM and a 250 watt power supply.

On my first boot attempt after installing the new parts, I experienced the exact problem you described. All the lights on the case and drives came on, but I didn't get a video signal. No beep codes and nothing on-screen. My first thought was that my power supply was insufficient. I'd been running the old 250 watt power supply that came with my Inwin case without any problems, but I know AMD recommends a 300 watt power supply at the very least to power Athlon processors. So I ran down to comp USA and dropped 60 bucks for a new 400 watt power supply. After I installed the new power supply and tried to boot the computer... no dice. I tried hitting the reset button a few times and power down then rebooting, still nothing. Then I went to the kitchen to grab a cold one and when I got back to my office the computer had booted into CMOS. It displayed an error in CMOS that my processor was configured incorrectly and to check my settings. I checked all settings, everything looked good. The board was in jumperless mode with everything set to "auto" by default. I hit F10 and the system rebooted.

The thing booted just fine after that and spent the rest of the night installing drivers and tweaking the pre-installed OS for the new components. I thought I was in the clear because I didn't seem to be having any more problems. I installed all kinds of software and did several reboots that evening without further problems.

The next day when I tried to boot it up I encountered the original problem I had experienced the day before. All the lights came on and I didn't get any beep codes, but there was no video signal. It just sat there. I tried rebooting several times and finally after the 10+ attempt it booted right up into windows... wierd.

I have since torn the computer apart and put it back together again with the same results. If I power it down, I have a real hard time getting it to boot up again. I'm reluctant to call this a "Bad CPU" problem because it does work after several attempts, right along with the rest of my harware. In my experience when you have a hardware problem the component normally works or it doesn't, especially when talking about CPU/MB/RAM.

If anyone has any has some information or suggestions regarding this problem, please let me know.

Thanks

[chowpappy]

The Abit NForce2 boards are having this trouble left and right. The BIOS chip gets corrupted really easily and you'll get no beeps..Its happening so much that ExcaliberPC wants you to buy an extra BIOS chip from them with the Motherboard. Maybe Asus is having the same problems. Check out their site and see if they have a lot of posts along these lines.

[chowpappy]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...threadid=13245

[WISEGUY]

Thanks for the info, Chowpappy. The ASUS forums are down at the moment so I wasn't able to check there, but everywhere else I looked seemed to back up your diagnosis. I started the RMA process today with Mwave. I'll update this thread when I get my MB bundle back.

Thanks again.

[WISEGUY]

Well, I got my MB and CPU back last week from Mwave and everything works fine now. They sent back the original MB with all the original packaging so I think they must have just replaced the BIOS chip like we discussed. The original BIOS update file I tried to install worked great after what ever they did to the MB.

For anyone experiencing the problems listed above, this looks to be the fix. I hope this is helpful - Thanks again Chowpappy.